217 Violena Street
217 Violena Street is a boarding house which, as the home of most of the recurring characters in Tin Soldier and the setting of many of its installments, is in many respects at the heart of the serial. Run by Hyacinth, it caters especially to magic-users, who are generally unwelcome elsewhere. Location The house, as its address suggests, is on Violena Street, between Green Dragon Alley and Swan's Neck, in the Strawberryfield neighborhood of San Rosille. The kitchen window has "a decent view of Brickdust Row", presumably running behind the house, and also faces in the general direction of downtown. Description "The house was narrow, tall, and jagged. The roof was naked tarpaper, with only a few errant shingles left on in scabrous patches like some kind of disease. A large hole had been covered with a tarp, which was weighted on the edges with loose brick and stones. It billowed in the wind. The house itself, and the battered fence that separated the yard from the street, was of mortared construction, with varied components. Red brick here, brown here, flagstone, brownstone, cobblestone. There was much evidence of damage and patching and very little paint. Some windows were broken and boarded, but most had been reglazed with lead and scrap glass and putty. Nails were too precious a commodity to be wasted on ''boards, and the daily shocks that knocked out glass and shattered walls had long since ceased. A wooden sign affixed to the brick wall beside the front window offered rooms to let and a smaller sign beneath this rescinded the offer from people with dogs, or perhaps simply dogs alone.'' The courtyard, pressed small by close-knit buildings and wide street, was full of scrap. Mostly torn and splintered wood that would be burned in brick fireplaces and terracotta braziers for warmth. There was some loose brick heaped in little piles, meant for further repairs, and some glass which would likewise be pressed into service as needed. A single sack of dry cement sat forlornly against a slumped brick wall, awaiting a trowel that lasted long enough to be put to proper use. Paper trash, constant and ephemeral, drifted in and out at the whim of the breeze. Bird droppings, though unavoidable, were not of squalid amount. Rats were similarly sparse. The local cats kept these populations in check, as well as the local humans – who were not too picky about what went into the soup. (An occasional cat or dog still found its way into the pot as well, as once had the elephants from the zoo.) There was no gate. A largish board, leaned slightly and weighted with rocks, served the purpose. A scrap of garish poster, showing a laughing dancer with a flute of champagne, still clung to one side." (The Man, The Boy, and The House) Layout Basement A cooler room than much of the house. It has windows on the kitchen side. The inhabitants of the house use it as a workroom; Milo repairs devices there, and Hyacinth uses it to lead window panes. There is also a small shrine to some of the Invisibles: "It was fashioned of found objects, glue and paper and glass, and a few printed icons (cheap, smudgy ones on rough paper). Hester Carthage of the Hearth was central. Auntie Enora was offset, but a bit larger, this being a concession to Hyacinth’s own preferences. There was Cousin Violet and Iron John and Lame Anthony, all of them fairly benign, good Invisibles to have around the house. There was also a small portrait of Baron Yowie, also, but this was more for appeasement than invitation." ''(Pink Dress and Bad Reception) During the early stages of his convalescence, Erik was housed in the basement on a cot. First floor Atrium The front door of the house opens into a front room, with a cracked tile floor and a window facing the fron., Originally intended as an atrium, there was at one point a skylight in the roof, but it was "removed in a rather spectacular fashion". In its place is a large hole; when Sanaam had last been there four months earlier before his arrival in The Sailor is Home from the Sea it had been covered by a sheet of corrugated steel; shortly after his departure this was cannibalized for its metal by Hyacinth to treat some burn patients (from a fire at a factory in Triangle Street). At the beginning of the serial its function was fulfilled by a tarp weighted down by loose brick and stones, but it has since had metal merged onto it again. A sweeping staircase leads to the second floor. Kitchen Lies behind the atrium, through an open door and up several steps. It has yellow checked wallpaper, with scars where the pipes had been pulled out for their metal; there is also a chalkboard (for the grocery list),a countertop and drawers, a broad table, and a large window; this last is "a wide amalgamation of glass, mostly shades of clear, an occasional fragment of red or green or amber. It was slightly higher than the main part of the house, owing to the basement windows, and afforded a decent view of Brickdust Row." Room 101 * [???] Room 102 A room on the side of the house facing Green Dragon Alley; the exterior-facing wall had formerly been windowless, but had suffered damage and been replaced with a large window (windows being easier than walls). The door does not open nor close properly, and is held on with cord. Inside are two mattresses lying directly on the floor, and a faded oriental rug; there is also a badly sagging table on which Mordecai keeps his sheet music. There is a closet separated from the rest of the room by a curtain. * Erik Weitz * Mordecai Eidel ("Em") Room 103 An uninhabited storage room. At one point, after Mordecai began living at the house but well before the present, the room was inhabited by a man named Gary who kept a goat there. Second Floor There is a balcony-like landing, with a railing, at the top of the stairs; it overlooks the front room. A hall leads off the landing, presumably toward the rooms; there is a wardrobe in the hall where Maggie keeps her day clothes. Room 20? Contains a narrow bed and a closet. * Ann Rose (see Milo Rose) * Milo Rose (see Ann Rose) Room 20? * Hyacinth ("Cin") Room 20? The room has two chairs, a desk, and a bookshelf, as well as a double bed with wobbly legs and a single bed on the floor; there is also a window. * Glorious D'Iver ("The General") * Magnificent D'Iver ("Maggie") * ''(irregularly) Sanaam Room 204 An uninhabited storage room, with stairs to the roof. Attic The attic is one room. It has a window, through which Barnaby empties his chamber pot. It is described as having lots of papers in it, and being a "rat's nest". * Barnaby Graham Category:Locations